| After the very welcomed CD "Byzantine Monkey" (Firehouse 12), his first as a leader, double bassist and composer John Hébert is back with another amazing proposal under his own name, "Spiritual Lover". This time in trio with two of the most talked about musicians on the scene today, French pianist Benoît Delbecq, famous for his piano preparations, and here also using vintage keyboard instruments like the clavinet and the analog synthesizer, and one of the most in demand drummers in the New York scene, Gerald Cleaver. The title of this new opus comes from the introducing track, and is with no wonder for us all that Hébert chose a composition by Andrew Hill – he played with this genious of jazz literature and piano refinement for seven years, the last of Hill's life. Very naturally, he shows some influences of the late master in the music now presented. And this is what you should expect from someone equally at ease in the mainstream and the avant-garde fields and coming from fulfilling music and life experiences with Lee Konitz, Paul Bley, John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler, Paul Motian, David Liebman, Uri Caine, Greg Osby, Bill Stewart, Marc Copland, Fred Hersch, Maria Schneider, Tony Malaby, Mary Halvorson, and Steve Lehman: an exquisite and profoundly beautiful jazz recording, full of lyricism and spirituality, committed to the invention of the future. |